Atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque builds inside the arteries, limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood to organs and other parts of the body. Atherosclerosis can affect any artery or vein in the body, including arteries or veins in the heart, brain, arms, legs, pelvis, and kidneys. As a result, diseases may develop in various parts of the body based on which arteries or veins are affected.
One example disease, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, is the leading global cause of death, accounting for more than 17.3 million deaths per year, and is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030. Regions of low and oscillatory shear stress in a blood vessel have been connected with regions in blood vessels that have or will develop atherosclerosis.
Hemodynamic profiles for patients with coronary artery disease could provide insight into the underlying mechanisms driving the disease. However, three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of coronary vessels are needed for fluid dynamics simulations. Reconstructions can be obtained from intravascular ultrasound, and yet this method is used in only a fraction of invasive studies of the coronary arteries. Two-dimensional (2D) coronary angiograms are, by contrast, widely available for a large number of individuals; however, methods to derive 3D fluid flow information directly from 2D coronary angiogram data do not exist.
Fluid flow profiles within various other structures in the body could provide insight into underlying issues for certain pathologies as well, and again, 2D images are more widely available for such structures than 3D reconstructions.